
My new favourite Apple Watch and Apple Well being metric is person who has been quietly running within the background for years. In particular, it’s a bit of of a hidden Apple Watch function for monitoring an ideal wholesome addiction: Time in Sunlight.
Apple Well being routinely tracks Time in Sunlight the use of your Apple Watch
Time in Sunlight arrived as a metric within the Well being app as a part of iOS 17 in 2023. Since watchOS 10, Apple Watch has routinely tracked Time in Sunlight simply by dressed in it.
The function works by way of the use of the watch’s ambient mild sensor to measure your environmental brightness. There’s no app to put in or monitoring mode to permit (regardless that are you able to optionally disable it).
“Time in Sunlight is an estimate of the period of time spent in daylight,” Apple explains within the Well being app. “When unobstructed, Apple Watch can routinely file an estimated quantity of Time in Sunlight in Well being.”

The right way to to find Time in Sunlight information in Apple Well being
Since the metric can pass way back to June 2023, you’ll have years of Time in Sunlight information. Time in Sunlight information is simply populating for your Apple Well being app when you’ve been dressed in an Apple Watch.
You’ll be able to take a look at in only some steps:
- Open the Well being app on iPhone or iPad.
- Faucet the magnifying glass icon for seek.
- Kind “sunlight” into the quest box.
You’ll be able to additionally to find Time in Sunlight from the Psychological Wellbeing or Different Information sections from Well being Classes at the seek web page.
Rediscovering this knowledge after a couple of years of monitoring Time in Sunlight mins and hours has been attention-grabbing.
Reframing how Apple Watch tracks wholesome conduct
As a result of spending time in daylight is a bodily and psychological well being spice up, the largest perception has been quantifying wholesome conduct that aren’t strictly round workout.

For instance, my absolute best Time in Sunlight day over the past week wasn’t spent strolling to the seashore or driving my motorcycle over the weekend. Sunday’s out of doors actions rank 2nd.
Alternatively, the absolute best and 3rd absolute best over the past week have been days when I used to be ready to take my MacBook Air outdoor and write for a number of hours that netted me extra Time in Sunlight.
For me, particularly as I’m looking to optimize for a persistently sure temper, quantifying Time in Sunlight with Apple Watch is a bit of of an unencumber that I truly admire at the moment.
It’s a solution to give myself credit score for wholesome alternatives in ways in which aren’t simply mirrored in workout mins.

Additional studying for Apple Watch and Apple Well being:
You’ll be able to to find the brand new Apple Watch Collection 11 for as little as $299 on Amazon nowadays.


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